Greek PM wins confidence vote but may step down

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou won a crucial confidence vote on Friday night, taking just over half of the votes.

In his speech to parliament he ruled out calling a snap election saying it would be “catastrophic.”

However, political stability is far from being restored. Papandreou promised to hold power-sharing talks and hinted that he might even step down, possibly as early as Saturday.

“The last thing I care about is my position. I have said it before and I will say it again. I say it to Greece, I say it abroad: I don’t care if I am ever elected again.”

Outside the parliament building thousands of communists and other leftists held a protest calling for early elections.

Having ruled that out, Papandreou said he would go to the president on Saturday to talk about forming a broad coalition government – with or without him at the helm.

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